The NGO Network Driving Antisemitism in Canada

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Since the Hamas-orchestrated October 7, 2023 massacre, Canada has experienced a dramatic increase in violent antisemitism.¹ This dangerous spike is concurrent with an increase in activity by an interconnected and coordinated network of NGOs, whose campaigns of anti-Israel demonization, antisemitism, and intimidation create a hostile environment throughout Canada. A number of the leading groups are linked to Palestinian terror organizations and hide their sources of funding. 

NGO Monitor’s mapping of Canadian anti-Israel groups, partnerships, and funding shows the extent of NGO cooperation in advancing their agendas of isolating Israel and attacking the Jewish State’s supporters (and perceived supporters). This NGO network is responsible for violent public events, student encampments, statements, and legal actions. Ominously, many of these groups have publicly celebrated the Oct. 7th atrocities, and expressed support for Hamas and other Canadian-designated terrorist organizations.

The main findings from the mapping are: 

• There is a blatant lack of transparency regarding the funding sources that enable the NGOs in the network. 
• 38 out of the 111 groups are registered with Canada Revenue as a business or charity. 29 organizations are known to have received some funding from the Government of Canada or provinces.
• Samidoun – a Palestinian terror-linked NGO with chapters in Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa – is one of the key groups promoting hate and incitement in Canada through its planning and promotion of numerous antisemitic events and extensive partnerships across the country.
• Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), which claims to have 9 university and 18 regional chapters, has the most connections, partnering with 76 out of the 111 groups.
• While small in numbers, campus organizations are prominent in the network and have partnered with many NGOs, including those that receive Canadian government funding.
• On the cluster map, organizations are situated closer to other organizations with which they have more links (“force-directed layout”). Legal NGOs appear to be fairly central and connected, suggesting  that they are providing important services to many of the activist groups.

This data takes on higher salience following the October 15, 2024 decision by the Government of Canada (in parallel to the United States) to list Samidoun “as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code.” As evidenced in this mapping, Samidoun is a central node in a broader network of anti-Israel and antisemitic NGOs operating in Canada.

Recommendations

• A number of NGOs represent threats to public safety and may have violated Canadian laws related to terrorism, incitement, violent extremism, and hate speech (antisemitism). Canadian authorities should systematically investigate these groups, and prosecute and take other legal action where warranted. 
• Samidoun was a known PFLP entity, even before Canada designated the NGO as a terror organization. Authorities should investigate whether universities, faculty, and NGOs that partnered with or hosted Samidoun and its officials could be liable for violations of Canadian law.
• In particular, PYM (Palestinian Youth Movement), which has many links to the PFLP terror group, should also be banned from operating in Canada. 
• Canada should improve financial transparency requirements for non-profits and charities, especially for groups involved in the disruptions, intimidation and antisemitism on the campuses of public universities and in mass rallies in the public sphere. 

Mapping Data

NGO Monitor divided the groups in the network into seven distinct categories: Funders, Legal, Campus, Advocacy, Research, Aid, and Bandwagon. These classifications help make sense of the complex landscape, as well as dissect the roles and influences of individual NGOs within the broader network.

Samidoun (Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network)

Samidoun is an international network with branches in at least 15 countries, linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP),² a terror-designated organization in Canada that participated directly in the October 7 atrocities.  

The organization does not publish financial information, reflecting a lack of transparency and accountability.  In the US, the Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ) acts as its fiscal sponsor.

In March 2021, Samidoun was registered as a not-for-profit corporation in Canada, and its base of operations is located in Vancouver, where the two leaders – Khaled Barakat and Charlotte Kates – live and coordinate the campaigns.  

On October 15, 2024, the Government of Canada listed Samidoun “as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code,” and the United States designated the NGO and labeled it “a sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser” for the PFLP. They join Israel and Germany that have banned Samidoun; the Dutch Parliament, which on October 2, 2024 passed a resolution calling for Samidoun to be banned in the Netherlands; and several financial institutions and payment companies that have frozen services to AFGJ.  

In addition to advocating on behalf of the PFLP and its members, Samidoun’s actions in promoting violent antisemitism are clearly documented. (Details in NGO Monitor’s report, “The Global Samidoun Network: Mapping Branches in Europe and North America,” updated January 2024.)

For examples of Samidoun activity in Canada since October 7th, as well as information on Khaled Barakat and Charlotte Kates, see Appendix 1. 

Masar Badil: The Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement

Masar Badil – like Samidoun – is headed by Khaled Barakat, and similarly celebrates the October 7th massacre, and anti-Israel events and rallies in Canada.

The organization does not publish financial information, reflecting a lack of transparency and accountability. In many respects, Masar Badil is a duplicate version of Samidoun. 

Activity in Canada

On April 28-30, 2023, Masar Badil hosted a “Liberation Conference” in Ottawa, corresponding to their publication of the “Ottawa Declaration” that calls for supporters to “walk together on the path of removing and dismantling the racist Zionist settler entity (“Israel”)… The movement calls to escalate the struggle at all levels, in all locations, regions and arenas, and confronting the U.S., Canadian and European policies that support the occupation and its institutions” (emphasis added).

Masar Badil dedicated the document to “the life of Walid Daqqah,” who was convicted in 1987 for kidnapping and murdering an Israeli soldier.

Support for the October 7th massacre and terrorists

• On October 7, 2023, Masar Badil posted a statement calling on people to “express their support for the heroic Palestinian resistance… and to support the ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’… The heroic Palestinian resistance has opened a chapter of battles of dignity and pride at the dawn of October 7, 2023, and it is now responding to decades of continuous and repeated Zionist, American and European aggression.”
• On September 28, 2024 Masar Badil posted a statement offering “their warmest and most sincere condolences and congratulations to the Lebanese people and the brothers and sisters in the leadership of Hezbollah on the martyrdom of the Arab, Islamic and international leader, the exceptional teacher and great historical mujahid, the son of Palestine and Lebanon, His Eminence, the Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.”  The organization added, “Death to the enemies and the racist Zionist entity. Victory to the resistance” (emphases added).

Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM)

Labeling itself a “movement of young Palestinians in Palestine and in exile,” PYM often promotes PFLP figures and rhetoric:

• In May 2024, while promoting the People’s Conference for Palestine, PYM shared an endorsement video featuring Salah Salah, one of the founding members of the PFLP.
• In October 2023, PYM released a “reading list” titled “Our History of Popular Resistance: Palestine Reading List.” The list included several articles by members of the PFLP terror group and several that openly support violence.

The organization does not publish financial information, reflecting a lack of transparency and accountability.  The US-based organization Honor the Earth serves as its fiscal sponsor.

PYM and Samidoun regularly co-sponsor and participate in the same events.  

For instance, in December 2023, Samidoun Vancouver organized a “Public Forum on The Palestinian Liberation Struggle: Confronting Zionism and Imperialism – Next Steps” with the participation of PYM.

Activity in Canada

Since October 7, 2023, PYM has organized demonstrations and student encampments across Canada, using these platforms to accuse Israel of “genocide.” 

Of particular note was the encampment at McGill University established by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill, which, according to a May 2024 CBC article, “supported by the Montreal chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement.” (PYM also supports Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights Concordia according to the CBC.) 

In a May 11, 2024 statement, the President and Vice-Chancellor of McGill observed that “None of this is peaceful protesting; it is designed to threaten, coerce and scare people.” According to the statement:

• “Protestors hung an effigy of an Israeli political figure dressed in a striped outfit that resembled a prisoner’s uniform. That outfit also bore a close likeness to the uniform that millions of Jews and other marginalized peoples who suffered and died in concentration camps during the Second World War were forced to wear.” 
• “Masked demonstrators have targeted personal residences of senior administrators on more than one occasion.” 
• “A senior administrator was followed and harassed by masked individuals emerging from the encampment.”

Likewise, according to a June 11, 2024 statement by the President and Vice-Chancellor of McGill:

• “protestors cross[ed] the line from peaceful expression into unlawful and frightening actions,” 
• “dozens of masked protestors forced their way into the James Administration Building, barricaded and chained exterior exits, spray-painted the premises, damaged furniture, and led many employees in the building to feel intimidated, unsafe, and afraid.”  

Support for the October 7th massacre

On October 7, 2023, PYM published a statement: “Palestine lives! The resistance is alive!….the resistance in Gaza stormed the illegitimate border fence, reentering 1948 Palestine for the first time in many of our lives…We continue to stand by our people in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine in their legitimate resistance against the occupiers. In the name of our shaheeds [martyrs], the struggle for freedom and return continues” (emphasis added).

Independent Jewish Voices (IJV)

IJV is a registered not-for-profit corporation in Canada. IJV plays a central role in anti-Israel activities in Canada, partnering with 76 out of the 111 groups in NGO Monitor’s mapping. IJV also has 9 university chapter groups on major Canadian campuses, and 18 regional chapters  across Canada. 

IJV files annually with Canada but does not identify its donors.

IJV frequently organizes protests and publishes calls to action together with Samidoun and Masar Badil. For instance, in April 2024, the three organizations – and others – co-sponsored a protest in Vancouver that featured Charlotte Kates as a speaker. In her remarks, Kates glorified the “Beautiful, brave and heroic resistance of the Palestinian people, which did not begin on October 7, which has continued for over 75 years, which has continued over 120 years.”

IJV played an active role at the McGill encampment. McGill students filed an injunction against the encampment, providing video evidence of individuals chanting, “All the Zionists are racist, all the Zionists are the terrorists” and “Go back to Europe.” Additional claims were made about students from IJV-Concordia and IJV-McGill chanting, “Jews against genocide” and “In our lifetime, we will see Palestinians living free.”

In March 2024, IJV organized a protest outside an event promoting Israeli real estate, at a Montreal synagogue. According to news reports, protesters “repeatedly called for the destruction of the state of Israel and the expulsion of Israelis.”

Justification of the October 7th attacks 

On October 8th, 2023 IJV released a statement claiming that “Israel needs to be held accountable for its decades of crimes against humanity, crimes that have put Palestinians in a position where violent retribution and death feels like justice.”

In September 2024, IJV published a statement: “All of the lives lost since October 7 could have been prevented had Israel and its Western backers, including Canada, sought to address the unbearable situation that led to the events of October 7. Instead, we armed Israel and gave it a virtual blank check to act in ‘self-defence’ against an illegally occupied and imprisoned people. The deaths of the Israelis killed on October 7 could also have been spared had Palestinians in Gaza not been pushed to the point of desperation, had their lives not been forsaken and devalued by Israel’s genocidal apartheid regime” (emphasis added).

In April 2024, IJV sponsored a protest in Vancouver that glorified the “Beautiful, brave and heroic resistance of the Palestinian people, which did not begin on October 7, which has continued for over 75 years, which has continued over 120 years.”

(See NGO Monitor’s September 2024 report for more information on IJV.)

Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR)

SPHR has chapters on many major Canadian College campuses. The nature of the relationship between SPHR and Students for Justice in Palestine is unclear.  SPHR has been involved in several campus encampments, including at McGill and at Queens. 

The organization does not publish financial information, reflecting a lack of transparency and accountability. Many SPHR chapters receive funding from their university student associations, however, there is little transparency surrounding the amount of funds received. 

• On September 5, The Students’ Society of McGill University revoked the status of SPHR McGill.
• In a July 10, 2024 letter, McGill interim deputy provost Angela Campbell cited “deeply troubling behaviour” by SPHR members, including “glorification of violence against civilians following Hamas’s terrorist attack on Oct. 7, threats to and harassment of McGill community members, support for the forced entry into and attempted occupation of the James Administration Building, as well as the obstruction of university activities and damage to university property.” 
• In June 2024, SPHR Concordia received a letter from the dean of students informing them that they are ineligible to register as a student group due to violations of the schools policy. This includes acts of harassment and promoting a summer program whose promotional material featured an image of “keffiyeh-garbed men reading while armed with light machine guns and rifles” and promised to “educate the youth of Montreal and redefine McGill’s ‘elite’ institutional legacy by transforming its space into one of revolutionary legacy.” 

Legal Assistance

A number of NGOs engaged in anti-Israel activity in Canada pursue legal agendas, including assisting in the defense of those arrested during protests, as well as efforts to force the Canadian government to enact an arms embargo against Israel and other sanctions. As noted, some are directly linked to the other NGOs listed in this report. 

Toronto Community Justice Fund

The Toronto Community Justice  Fund “raise and distribute resources for community members living in the Greater Toronto Area who are facing legal and other financial repercussions stemming from the criminalization of their Palestinian liberation and solidarity work.” The anonymous trustees tasked with distributing funds are from PYM Toronto, Health Workers Alliance for Palestine, No More Silence, Groundswell Community Justice Trust Fund, and Showing Up for Racial Justice Toronto. 

According to its website, PYM’s Toronto chapter assisted in establishing the fund.

The fund has no financial accountability or transparency. It claims to have raised 200k out of its $1.2 million goal (as of October 2, 2024).

Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR)

CLAIHR  publishes basic financial information but does not identify its donors.

CLAIHR has launched multiple legal efforts to sanction Israel and force Canada to enforce an arms embargo:

• On January 30, 2024, CLAIHR, PFLP-linked NGO Al-Haq, and others sent a letter to the Canadian Minster of Foreign Affairs claiming that “Israel has committed and continues to commit such violations and acts in its military operations in Gaza and in the West Bank, including the real and imminent risk that Israel is violating the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.” 
• On March 5, 2024, these NGOs initiated legal proceedings “challenging Canada’s continued export of military goods and technology to Israel.” 

Additionally, CLAIHR has supported campus protestors.

In July 2024, CLAIHR, along with Amnesty International, intervened against an injunction to clear the encampment at the University of Toronto. The organizations argued that “peaceful assembly may be disruptive, provoke a hostile reaction from members of the public, or take place on private property, however this does not, on its own, justify restriction of the assembly.” They noted that “the right to peaceful assembly is vital to the defense of human rights and called on the court to consider the scope of the right when assessing the harms that would result from granting the injunction.” 

Statement on October 7th

In November 2023, CLAIHR signed an Open Letter claiming that “We reject the notion that it is antisemitic, hateful, or illegitimate to contextualize the October 7th, 2023 attack. Similarly, we reject the notion that it is antisemitic, hateful, or illegitimate to express support for Palestinians in the face of ongoing Israeli apartheid and genocide.” 

The Legal Centre for Palestine (LCP)

LCP files annually with Canada but does not identify its donors.

On March 13, 2024, as member of the “Coalition for Canadian Accountability in Gaza,” LCP accused the Canadian government of failing “to prevent genocide.”  According to this NGO coalition, “Particularly notable is Canada’s increase in arms exports to Israel at a time when Israel has faced charges of systematic war crimes and genocide…by withdrawing funding for UNRWA at such a dire moment, Canada effectively endorsed the genocidal objectives of the State of Israel.”

On December 17, LCP announced that it was creating a legal task force to defend pro-Palestinian activists, claiming, “the horrific Israeli war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza have compelled Canadians across the country to bravely exercise their constitutional right to free speech and assembly to call for a ceasefire, the end of Israeli occupation, and the respect and application of international law.” 

Appendix 1: Examples of Samidoun activity in Canada since October 7th; Information on Khaled Barakat and Charlotte Kates

On October 7, 2024 Samidoun organized a protest in Vancouver during which a speaker  said, “we are Hezbollah and we are Hamas,” and protestors chanted, “death to Canada, death to the United States and death to Israel.” 

Canadian flag being burned at Samidoun-organized protest in Vancouver, screenshot from CBS, October 9, 2024

On July 17, 2024, Samidoun Toronto held a seminar on the “Strategy for the Liberation of Palestine,” where it presented the PFLP’s foundational guidebook. The document delineates the terrorist organization’s objective of destroying “the state of Israel as a military, political, and economic establishment” and advocates “political violence as the only solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict” (emphasis added).

On July 3, 2024, Samidoun organized and promoted a demonstration at an international youth softball tournament in Surrey, B.C., where protestors shouted at and intimidated Israeli children. 

Protestors at Samidoun protest in B.C., Richmond News, July 4, 2024

Notably, the organization has been engaged in similar activity in the US since October 7th.  (For more information, read NGO Monitor’s 2024 report “PFLP and Samidoun on American College Campuses.”) 

Khaled Barakat

Barakat has been identified by the PFLP as a “coordinator” of Samidoun, which  has labeled him a “comrade” and “commander at the PFLP” on multiple occasions. Additionally, according to Fatah, Barakat is a “member in the central committee of the PFLP.” 

In 2020, Germany expelled Barakat and imposed a four-year entry ban. His appeal was rejected, finding that Barakat “repeatedly participated in activities of the PFLP in Germany and/or appeared publicly under the PFLP label.” The German court also described Barakat’s “support for a terrorist organization as a case of endangering public safety.”

According to an April 2022 National Post article, Barakat was deported from the US in 2003, after his residency permit was revoked. According to that same article, his legal status in Canada is unknown.

Canadian activity

At a May 31, 2024 event in Vancouver, Barakat led crowds in chants of “long live October 7,” adding that “What happened on October 7 was the beginning of the great intifada… It started in Gaza, and it’s led by Gaza, and it has reached Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen.”  

Charlotte Kates and Khaled Barakat speaking at a conference under a PFLP flag, Bnai Brith Canada, December 18, 2023

Both before and after Oct. 7th, Barakat expressed his support for Canadian-designated terrorist organizations and for violence:

• Khaled Barakat, in a March 30, 2024 interview with Al-Manar TV (Hezbollah-Lebanon), said that “today’s generation of Americans and Canadians broadly – and courageously – support armed resistance and the elimination of ‘the Zionist entity.’” 
• At an April 30, 2023 event in Ottawa, Barakat, called on participants to “salute” the military wings of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP, as well as Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed terror groups.
• In a May 22, 2022, interview for Iranian Press TV, Barakat stated that “Palestinian armed resistance in particular today represents Palestinians and it is the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.” (emphasis added)
• At a June 3rd, 2022 event in Ottawa, Barakat “complained that Hezbollah, Hamas and PFLP were officially recognized by Canada as terrorist organizations” and added that “Canada’s list of terrorist organizations should be abolished.”

Charlotte Kates

Charlotte Kates serves as Samidoun’s international coordinator and has also expressed her support for Canadian-designated terrorist organizations and for the October 7th massacre.

On April 26, Canadian authorities arrested Kates following a Vancouver speech in which she “praised various terrorist threats and glorified the October 7 massacre”; led chants of “long live October 7”; chanted “We stand with the Palestinian resistance and their heroic brave action on October 7”; and claimed that “Hamas is not a terrorist organization, [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad is not a terrorist organization, PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) is not a terrorist organization, Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization. These are resistance fighters. These are our heroes.” 

Kates was released and a criminal investigation was opened to see ​​whether she violated Canadian hate-crime laws.³

Support for terrorism and honored by Iran

Kates has praised violence and terrorist organizations on several other occasions:

• In an October 5, 2024 interview with NBC News, Kates was asked, in reference to the massacre at the Nova Festival, “Was it heroic for that action to take place?” She responded that “it is heroic that Palestinians broke out of the siege on Gaza. Palestinians have a right to resist. And that what we saw on the 7th of October was a heroic operation designed to achieve the Palestinian people’s liberation.”
• On April 29, Kates gave the opening remarks in a webinar hosted by Masar Badil (see below) “featuring Basem Naim, a prominent leader in Hamas.” Kates is also featured in a February 27th video with Naim, where she described the Oct. 7 attacks as a “heroic operation.” In another February webinar, she explained why her organization does not distance itself from Hamas or other groups deemed terrorists by the U.S. and Israel.

Reflecting the centrality of the Iranian connection, on August 4, 2024 Kates received the 8th annual Islamic Human Rights and Human Dignity Award in Tehran. Hamas leader, Isamil Haniyeh (who was killed on July 31, 2024) was posthumously honored at the event as well. Another award recipient at the event was Ziyad Nakhaleh, General Secretary of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.⁴

In her remarks, Kates emphasized “the role of the Islamic Republic in opposing American, Western and Zionist policies, and the support provided by the Iranian people to the resistance in Palestine, [and] Lebanon” and noted that Samidoun “firmly believes that the unified resistance forces of the region will take all measures necessary to hold the aggressors accountable for their assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, their violation of the sovereignty of Iran, and the past 76 years of genocide against the Palestinian people.” 

Kates dedicated her award to numerous Palestinian terrorists including: Walid Daqqah, Sheikh Khader Adnan, Ahmad Sa’adat, Marwan Barghouthi, Abbas al-Sayyed, and Ibrahim Hamed.⁵

Appendix 2: List of Canadian NGOs that Samidoun has worked with since Oct. 7th

2 Rivers for Palestine
Al Quds Committee
Anti-Imperialist Alliance
Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation
BDS Vancouver
Canada Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War
Canada Palestine Association
Canadian BDS Coalition
Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
Canadians for Palestine
Centre justice et foi / The Center for Justice and Faith
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
Eastern Townships Solidarity Group with Palestine/ Solidarity Sherbrooke – Gaza in Palestine
Faculty for Palestine
Free Palestine BC
Greater Toronto for BDS
Independent Jewish Voices / Voix juives indépendantes
International League of Peoples’ Struggle – Canada
Islamic Relief
Jewish Anti-Zionist Collective
Jews Say No to Genocide
Just Peace Advocates/ Mouvement pour une Paix Juste
Justice For All Canada
Labour for Palestine
Masar Badil
Montreal4Palestine
Niagara Movement for Justice in Palestine-Israel
Ontario Palestinian Rights Association
Palestinian and Jewish Unity / Palestiniens et Juifs Unis
Palestinian Youth Movement
Quebec Collective for Peace
Queers Against Israeli Apartheid
Regina Peace Council
Saint John Solidarity With Palestine
Socialist Action / Ligue pour l’Action Socialiste
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights
Students for Justice in Palestine
The Palestine Solidarity Committee
Toronto4Palestine
United Jewish People’s Order
Windsor BDS
Womens International League for Peace and Freedom Canada
Writers Against the War on Gaza
Youth For Palestine